Footwear with water-resistant slide-fastener closure



.Fe 17;, 19470 A MALLUK 2,422,249

FOOTWEAR wrm WATER-RESISTANT SLIDE-FASTENER CLZOSURE Filed Jan. 6,, 1943INVENTOR ASSAD M. MALI-UK Patented June 17, 1947 FOOTWEAR WITHWATER-RESISTANT SLIDE-FASTENER CLOSURE Assad M. Malluk, New York, N. Y.

Application January 6, 1943, Serial No. 471,420

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to footwear like shoes, boots, rubber boots,etc., with medium or high upper portions, and has for its main object toprovide means whereby the putting on or takin off of such footwear willbe greatly facilitated,-

and the inspection, cleaning and repairing of the inside particularly ofhigh boots, made more convenient than at present, and whereby all theseoperations on such footwear will be made easier and more comfortablethan heretofore.

For these objects I provide longitudinal separations in two or moreplaces in the upper portion of the footwear, going down to the lowerthereof, and provide means along said separations whereby the same maybe opened or closed quickly and easily, so as to facilitate the puttingon and taking off of the footwear, and the open ing up of the insidethereof.

My invention mainly aims to provide these improvements for high boots orshoes for rough usage, in the open air, and another object thereof is toprovide a footwear, as characterized hereinbefore, in which means areincorporated to close and seal the separations against water,

sand, dirt, mud, and the like.

Still further objects of this invention will be apparent as thespecification of the 'same pro ceeds, and, among others, I may mention;to provide a footwear of the type indicated which will be comparativelysimple in construction, inexpensive, adapted to eflicient massmanufacturing, efficient in use, and which will be'attractive inappearance.

In the drawing, forming a part of this specification and accompanyingthe same- Figure l is a perspective front view of a high shoe or bootembodying my invention, the same being shown in a closed position withthe exception of the upper-end of the front separation thereof, which isyet partly open;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of the upper front portion ofthe high shoe or boot to which my invention has been applied and showingthe parts in closed position.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the upper front portion ofthe high shoe or boot showing the relationship of the parts when inpartially closed position.

Referring now to the drawing more in detail, by characters of reference,and particularly to Figure 1 thereof, the numeral l0 indicates afootwear such as a shoe or boot,-made in accordance with my invention.The footwear has an upper portion [2 which is higher than in the socalled low shoes, and is designed to cover the ankle and a desired upperportion of the leg.

The footwearis provided with a longitudinal front separation indicatedby the numeral ll. A similar separation at the rear of the footwear mayalso be provided, thereby dividing the upper l2 into right and lefthandportions or halves t6 and I1.

Slide fasteners iii are applied along the meeting edges of the halves l6and H, the one shown in the drawing being the well known "zipper typehaving a manipulating handle l9 and a rear similar device 20, wherebyupon an upward pull of said device said separations of the footwear maybe closed by said slide fasteners, or, vice versa, upon a downwardmovement of said manipulating handles l9 and 20, the two halves l6 andil may be separated down to the lower portion of the footwear.

When the upper portion of the footwear is thus separated, at both thefront and rear thereof, the two halves l6 and I'll will bend or dropsideways, outwardly and downwardly thereby exposing the inner sides ofthe upper portions and most of the inner side of the lower part of thefootwear, thus giving an easy access to the inside of said lower part.When the slide fasteners are put into closed position the footwear isclosed, as when worn.

It will be seen that when the footwear is in its open position it willbe easy and convenient to take it off the foot of the wearer, or to putit on. It will also be easy and convenient to clean or air it or to makeany necessary repairs to the inside of the footwear. Also, the footwearmay be put into a closed position easily and quickly thereby embracing adesired portion of the leg of the wearer in a comfortable and wellfittin manner.

It is quite essential in such footwear, which is designed for roughusage in the open or in other places where water, mud, dust, sand, etc.,may easily get into it, to have the inside thereof well protectedagainst such harmful effects, and it also is important to have the slidefastener l8, protected against such factors which may very quicklydestroy its smooth operation. For this reason I provide means forprotecting the separations and the slide fasteners.

As shown particularly in Figures 1 and 3, the footwear is provided witha water proof rubber protecting and sealing flap 2| which is secured ona section or half of the footwear adjacent to the separation, asindicated at 22. The said flap may be secured to the section by anyappropriate means such as by cement, stitching etc. I also provide anouter covering and securing flap 23, and an inside protecting leatherflap 26. When the footwear is in position, as worn, the flap 2| willextend snugly over the respective parts adjacent the separation I 4 andthe slide fastener l3.

On the opposite sides of the separations to that to which flap 2| issecured, there is provided the outer covering and securing flap 23,which may be made of leather, and which is somewhat wider than therubber flap 2|. The flap 23 is provided with means 24 to releasablysecure the same on the opposite half of the upper portion of thefootwear as at 25 (see Figure 2).

There is also provided a protecting flap 26 on the inside or back of theseparations l4 and I5, said flap being secured on one section or half ofthe upper portion of the footwear adjacent the respective separation asindicated at 28, and extending over the adjacent portion of the otherhalf of the footwear, and, as indicated at 21 in Figures 1 and 2, over asimilar flap similarly secured to the other half of the footwear,thereby not only protecting the zipper I8 from the inside of thefootwear, but also protecting the leg of the wearer against a pressureby the elements of the zipper and making the inner surface of the upperof the footwear when worn, smooth and even. For this purpose, the innerprotector strap 26 may be made of special leather, the inner surface ofwhich, turned against the body of the wearer, may be made soft, whilethe outer surface of the same may be made harder so as to provide asmooth foundation for and a desired resistance against the slidefastener l8.

Close to the slide fastener element is on the section or half I! of theupper of the footwear, a generally channel shaped member 3| is securedwith its opening or mouth 32 towards the separation l4. On the othersection l6, another corresponding member or strip 34 is secured adjacentthe respective slide fastener elements i8.

When the slide fasteners l8 are closed upon one another by themanipulating device l9, the member 34 will be causedto enter into thechannel or U-shaped member 3|, its end 35 coming to rest in the bottom33, and they will provide a very effective watertight and dirt safeprotection in front of the slide fastener iii. The members 3| and 34 ofthis sealing and protecting device may be made of any appropriate rigidbut somewhat resilient flexible and yielding material, like metal, aplastic, etc., as Monel metal, Lucite, Vinylite, etc.

In Figure 2, there is shown a fragmentary cross-section of myconstruction, the thickness of the various'layers, as well as thecurvatures of the'parts when closed upon one another, being exaggeratedfor clearness of showing.

It will be seen that my invention attains all the objects enumeratedhereinbefore; it will provide a footwear of any desired height whichwill be easily put on or removed practically with a few quickoperations, opening and closing the front and rear separations in .theupper portion of the footwear. If the footwear has waterproof material,my invention will complete this effect thereof and will not permit anywater entering the inside of it.

My invention also provides convenient and quick slide fasteners foropening orclosing the separations and provides reliable and quiclgly andconveniently applied protecting means for the slide fasteners.

A footwear, manufactured according to my invention, may be easilycleaned, both outside and inside, repaired, dried, and sunned, whendesired.

My novel footwear, particularly in the-case of high boots, will beeasier and cheaper to manufacture than is the, case with present highboots, the upper portion of which is made of one piece of material, andit will provide a well fitting and still comfortable footwear with greatease of putting on or removing the same.

I claim:

In an article of footwear having a lower portion to cover the foot andan upper portion to cover the leg of the wearer, a longitudinalseparation in said upper leg portion separating said portion into twosections from the top edge thereof to the lower part of the footportion, slide fastener closure means for said separation, a U- shapedmember made of waterproof material secured on a section along one sideof the separation and extending exteriorly of the slide fastener means,a second U-shaped member made of waterproof material secured along theother side of the separation and also extending exteriorly of the slidefastener closure means and adapted to have one edge thereof enter saidfirst mentioned U-shaped member when said slide fastener means is closedso that said edge will form a substantially water resistant seal withsaid first mentioned U-shaped member, a flap made of waterproof materialsecured along one section adjacent to the separation and extending oversaid members when they are positioned in engaging relation with eachother, and a second flap made of water resisting material secured alongthe opposit section adjacent to the separation and adapted to extendover said first mentioned flap and be releasably secured to the 45section on the other side of the separation.

ASSAD M. MALLUK.

= REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 50 fileof this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,884,159 Orent Oct. 25, 19321,897,623 Rosenbaum Feb. 14, 1933 2,062,001 Grenier Nov. 24, 1936776,440 Underdown Nov. 29, 1904 984,180 Barker Feb. 14, 1911 1,648,101Ascheim Nov. 8, 1927 1,670,468 Martin et a1 May 22, 1928 1,603,144Nichols Oct. 12, 1926 2,330,224 L'Hollier' Sept. 28, 1943 1,991,943Keviczky Feb. 19, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 68,037Switzerland Jan. 28, 1914 166,196 Switzerland Mar. 1, 1934 I 498,984Great Britain Jan. 17, 1939 120,529 Austria Dec. 27, 1930

